Saturday, February 20, 2016

OK, Tennessee friends, now is the time to contact these committee members and ask for a yes vote in this Constitutional Carry bill. If you want to refresh yourself on what the bill says, I am including links at the bottom of the page. In a nutshell, it extends the ability of the citizen to carry a defensive handgun without a permit. If you are not a Tennessee resident, I would appreciate your passing this to any of your Tennessee contacts.

1. I am including the text of my email to these individuals. Please DO NOT copy and paste my email. Write your own.

2. With the most important national election, perhaps, in our lifetime, please consider joining the NRA. I am including a link below for you to follow to sign up.

Tennessee has made significant progress in the restoration of the basic right of personal defense against violent aggression. But Tennessee Law still prevents many citizens from exercising their self-preservation rights under the Tennessee and U. S. Constitution, by requiring a poll tax in the form of our current permitting system.

Two years ago, the right to defend oneself was extended from the home to the vehicle, with the legalization of "car carry" without a permit.

So now, a lady can drive to Kroger with her handgun in her car, but when she goes into the store, she must leave her handgun unattended while crossing sometimes dangerous parking lots and shopping.

If she is on a limited fixed income, she might be able to afford an inexpensive handgun, but not afford the cost of the permitting system.

Another elderly lady who lives in subsidized housing, and whose only means of transportation is a taxi or bus, doesn't even have the option of leaving a defensive firearm in her vehicle. Her defensive rights end at her front door.

Yet, under TCA 39-17-1322*, if either of these ladies uses a handgun in a justifiable self-defense situation, the law says "no harm done" and prevents prosecution for carrying.

So, on one end we have the right to keep or carry a handgun in the home or car. On the other end we have exemption from prosecution if the defensive firearm is properly used.

Sandwiched in the middle is the prior restraint of the permitting system which restricts and taxes good citizens, yet does nothing to curtail the criminal.

Please vote yes on this bill.

Respectfully,

Liston Matthews

​*​ A person shall not be charged with or convicted of a violation under this part if the person possessed, displayed or employed a handgun in justifiable self-defense or in justifiable defense of another during the commission of a crime in which that person or the other person defended was a victim.

Perhaps jaded by twenty-two years as a gun rights leader, I’ve never thought much of presidential politics. We’re usually instructed to endure the “lesser of two evils” by centrists who don’t want you to consider that the lesser of two evils is still evil.

So I didn’t hold high hopes, last year, when a fellow conservative activist told me the Ted Cruz people wanted to meet me. I expected to meet a candidate who would “speechify” for thirty minutes, wave to his adoring fans, and leave.

Instead, Senator Cruz sat down at a table of perhaps two dozen activists and said, “Okay, what should I be doing?” What followed was nearly two hours of give-and-take which convinced me that Ted Cruz had the potential to be the next Ronald Reagan – convinced me so effectively, in fact, that I agreed to be a state campaign co-chair.

What most impressed me was his point that we should never listen to what politicians say, but rather pay attention to what they have done. For example, Donald Trump makes all the right noises about supporting the right to keep and bear arms. His website contains the following verbiage: “The Second Amendment to our Constitution is clear. The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed upon [sic]. Period.”

That sounds great until you consider what Trump said a few years ago: “…I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun.”1

In truth, Donald Trump’s beliefs are most accurately summarized in one of his more recent statements: “I’m very capable of changing to anything I want to change to.” Therein lies the real Donald Trump – a snake oil salesman with enough smarts to know what you want to hear.

When I studied the voting histories of Sen. Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio, at first blush they appear quite similar. But where was Rubio in 2013, after Sandy Hook, when Barack Obama attacked the Second Amendment with a massive gun control scheme parading under the misnomer “universal background checks”?

It was Sen. Cruz, along with Sens. Mike Lee and Rand Paul, who solicited a letter from Senate Republicans vowing to filibuster S.649. It was these three statesmen who forced Democrats to get sixty votes for cloture on S. 649 – and the long list of horrific amendments proposed to the bill, including semi-auto and magazine bans – instead of simple majorities.

But for the efforts of Sen. Cruz, today we would be living under a massive gun registration scheme disguising itself as “universal background checks.” Just today, after the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Cruz promised to filibuster whichever nightmare Supreme Court nomination Obama sends to the Senate.

Some US senators, such as Richard Burr and Lindsey Graham, reportedly hate Ted Cruz. But they hate him because he has held their feet to the fire over issues as diverse as Obamacare, the budget, and gun-control. In fact, Cruz practices exactly the same type of confrontational politics to which Grass Roots North Carolina attributes its twenty-two years of success.

Grass Roots North Carolina does not endorse political candidates. But for these reasons, among others, I personally endorse Sen. Ted Cruz for President of the United States. Anyone who supports not only the Second Amendment, but the American ideal of individual liberty should join me in electing a president who has not only memorized the Constitution, but who lives it each day.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Today, a lawsuit was filed concerning the gun ban at Chilhowee Park, including during the Fair in September. As a supporter of the Second Amendment guarantee to the right to keep and bear arms, I am honored to have been chosen as one of the plaintiffs.

Monday, February 8, 2016

From time to time, an email circulates on the web that purports to count the number of hunters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and some other states, then compares those numbers to the army sizes of several nations around the world.

The idea behind this comparison is the notion that it would be foolish for a foreign nation, China for instance, to invade the United States. None of those emails that I have seen have had any supporting documentation, though. . . .

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Almost two years ago, Tennessee passed a bill that created "Constitutional Car Carry" in the Volunteer State. Basically, what this meant was that if a person can legally own or possess a firearm, he may carry a firearm, in ready condition in a vehicle. There are some exceptions, such as federal property, school grounds, and wildlife management areas.

The passage of that legislation included handguns and long guns. That was a good thing for Tennesseans and visitors to our beautiful state. The legal ability to defend oneself with effective means is affirmed within the vehicle.

BUT

The threshold or sill of the door is a visible marker of legal danger. As long as you stay on the inside of the car, you may protect yourself from crime, and you are protected by the law.